reality

This weekend included a few different lenses on one of the big realities of being a young-ish woman joining a community of women religious. The proverbial elephant I've written about before of age & declining numbers.

Friday I spent a few hours at groovy sister hq. Had a wonderful visit with Sister MD (not a doctor - those are her initials). Sr. MD is from England. In her working years she was super-principal. She served in quite a number of schools, often cleaning up messes and whipping things into shape. Now she is a graceful regal woman who gives the best hugs and tells great stories to us newbies. You always feel important and loved when you talk to Sr. MD. Two days later, on Christmas morning, we got news that she was having trouble breathing and was hospitalized. She received the treatment she needs and is doing well. But she's 87 and things happen, even if you see them two days before and they seem fine. There's going to be a lot of that I think.

Over the weekend our house was full. I heard so many great stories about Sisters past and present. One of the pluses of religious life today is that there is so much history and amazing work to build upon. So many stories to hear so that I can one day pass them along. The flip side of course is related to the paragraph up above.

Christmas Eve it was just those of us in the house gathered around the tree. It was time for Santa, and as the youngest I got to be Santa (read had to crawl around on the ground and hand out the presents). Christmas Day we had more "extended family" gathered around the tree. I was still the youngest and got to be Santa (crawling around even more) again. If I weren't motivated enough to encourage more vocations so I have company and community members in the future, here's another motivation. I don't want to be Santa forever!!